Earring extravaganza

Here are a few of the earring's I've made lately:

 I love all the colors in the stone of these!  They are purple but not. I'm such a rock nerd.

It's weird. I used to hate light green peridot-esque stones, but these just called my name.  For some reason, even though the color is wrong, they remind me of a peacock.

I'm really into the same but different look. I loved picking out the beads of similar size and tone, but different colors and shapes.

 And here's how they hang:

I've also been a big fan of mixed metals.  This is something else I used to hate a few years ago.  Guess it's just weirdness of getting old.

these have a lovely patina-ed green copper dangle

I cant decide if these are supposed to be fairy wands or shooting stars.

Dia de los muertos earrings.

and finally some super simple tiny silver hoop dangles.

Baby Groot

I found this tutorial for Baby Groot on Twinkie Chan around Christmas. Amid the holiday hubbub, I stitched him up.  His little wee arms are pose-able! Just in case I want to make him dance!

He now lives on the shelf above my computer.  Every time I look at him he makes me smile.  Dance baby Groot, Dance!

Blockette's Necklace

Blockette designed this necklace over the summer.

 I put the whole thing together for her because working with tiny jump rings can be tricky for an almost 9 year old (at the time).

She fell in love with this giant bag of key charms.  

I love how the whole thing looks antique-y, but the charms are made of plastic!

Looking at the necklace now, the keys are just the right size for fairy houses. 

 No wonder she likes them so much!

How I survivied the winter

Leg warmers.

Yes!  Leg warmers!

This pattern is from Cobbler's Cabin. I used Claret Red Heart Super Saver Yarn  with an H hook for the main part of the leg warmer, and switched to an F hook for the upper and lower ribbing.  I made one legwarmer using just an H hook and the ribbing was much too loose to stay on my legs, even over jeans.

I followed the pattern as is, and as you can see by the below picture they are as long as my short stumpy legs.  I'm only 5'2" so if you aren't a shorty short pants like me, they will be much longer on you. 

These babies are super warm.  After that first sub zero stretch we had at the beginning of the winter, I knew we were in for some freakishly frigid weather.  Even though I was wearing 2 pairs of long underwear, jeans, and a pair of my husbands fleece pajama pants under my full length down coat, my legs were still really cold after 5 min of outdoor exposure.  This extra layer was so warm, it made being outside bearable for just a bit longer. 

As it got warmer, and more like a normal winter, I opted to wear the legwarmers instead of long underwear.  It just made getting dressed for work so much easier.  For me, the legwarmers were as warm as 2 layers of silk long underwear pants.

I luv my legwarmers!

We're So Picky!

I hate my bathroom.  It's sooo UGLY.  Although, it is an improvement from when we moved in 7 years ago.  It had fake plastic tile sheeting on all the walls.  Like the stuff you might line a shower with.  Over all the walls. 

And when we took that down...Pepto Bismal pink walls.

Did I mention the cabinet and floor were green?

Yeah.

We repainted the walls but the cabinets and floors were a project that got moved to the bottom of the list.  They are still at the bottom of the list.  And I still hate them.

Blockette didn't quite understand how I could not like the bathroom when my favorite color is green.  I like green, just not that shade of green, and not in my bathroom.

Now when I say the cabinets are green, I mean they are mostly green.  Whoever painted them, just took the cabinets that were there for God knows how long and painted them.  They did not sand them first.  How do I know this?  The paint is peeling off the cabinets.

I got sick of looking at the peeling paint and in 15 min Blockette and I did this:

Here's a close up:

And of the other side:

We did this with our fingers.  The paint came off in great big sheets.  There is something so satisfying about peeling off great big sheets of ugly paint.  Sort of like peeling a sunburn, without the pain of getting burned in the sun!

Blockette is hooked on paint peeling.  Every time we are in there at the same time she asks when we can do it again.  I think a few more steamy showers and we'll have another go at a peel-o-rama.  I figure by the end of the summer we'll have the entire cabinet stripped of all it's paint!